The Plan - Mark 3:11-15 (Luke 6:12-13) Series

Mark 3:7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.

9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.

11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve-- designating them apostles-- that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons.

Introduction

We’re Going to Need a Bigger Plan

One of my all time favorite lines in any song comes from one of my favorite hymns of all time: Joy to the World. The line I’m thinking of is this: No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found. When the Messiah comes, he comes to fulfill all the promises of the entire OT and bring eternal blessing on the whole universe, and that renewal and restoration and blessing will extend as far as the curse is found. The renewal will be as extensive and as pervasive and as comprehensive as the effects of the curse are.

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, in Mark 3, Jesus still has a ways to go to get that done. He has healed some folks around Israel, preached in several villages around Galilee, but he’s really got a long way to go to bring blessing as far as the curse is found. The enormity of the problems of the curse are so massive and pervasive, they are portrayed here by Mark as being overwhelming. The masses of broken humanity come from surrounding countries and mob Jesus to the point where he has to plan an escape route.

Is what Jesus has been doing going to get the job done? If you draw a graph of Jesus progress against sin and evil and disease and sickness and death so far, and then you extrapolate that line out to the rest of Jesus’ life, that line doesn’t even come close to getting the job done. You’ve heard that famous line from Jaws, “We’re going to need a bigger boat”? We see what’s happening here and we realize, we’re going to need a bigger plan. And what we find here in ch.3 is that Jesus has a bigger plan. That line isn’t his plan for reaching the world. He has something much bigger in mind, and that plan gets unveiled here in ch.3.

We have seen Jesus silence the demons multiple times, when they start announcing the he is the Son of God. We see it again right here.

Mark 3:11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

The objectives of flooding the world with his grace as far as the curse is found is not going to come about through the testimony of demons. They know the truth, but they can’t be entrusted with the proclamation of the truth because they are always up to no good. And also because it’s not Jesus’ plan to have his message disseminated that way. He’s got another plan, this is the point where he sets that plan in motion. And the setting for that unveiling is very dramatic.

Something Big Is About to Happen

The Mountain

13 Jesus went up on a mountain

Any time you see someone go up on a mountain in the Bible, look out. You know something really big is about to happen. (Moses getting the law, God appearing on Sinai, Abraham sacrificing Isaac, Elijah calling down fire on the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, the Transfiguration, the Sermon on the Mount, the list goes on. So this ascent up the mountain signals something very significant is about to happen. That’s even clearer in Luke’s account, where we find out that Jesus spent the entire night in prayer. What was he praying about?

The Summons

13 Jesus went up on a mountain and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve

That whole verse has unusual and striking language. First, it all happens up on a mountain. Then it says he called them, and instead of the normal word for calling it’s a strengthened form, which has the idea of an official summons. You might get a call from your wife to come home early from work. But you get summoned by a king, or a court. Jesus issued a summons to these twelve men.